Is the Fender Player Stratocaster a good electric guitar?A deep dive review and teardown
What is the Player Series?
The Player Series Stratocaster
Starting in 2018 Fender renamed their Mexican line of Standard guitars to the Player series. They essentially retained the same specs, but a number of minor changes overall provided some nice upgrades to bring them closer to their American model siblings
All the Specs
Here’s what to expect with the Player Series Stratocaster:
Alder body with gloss finish
Three Player Series single-coil Stratocaster pickups (Alnico 5 magnets)
“Modern C"-shaped neck profile
9.5"-radius fingerboard
2-point tremolo bridge with bent-steel saddles
Inside the Guitar
I’ve always been impressed with the Fender Standard models I’ve tried over the years. And taking a look inside the guitar, you can see once again Fender isn't cutting corners with the Player series. Under the hood I found body shielding painting and metal tape on the pickguard which helps reduce single coil hum. You’ll also get full sized pots and a really well made pickup selector switch. Everything feels solid and is clean. There’s no need to upgrade the parts.
Under the hood
Satin Neck
Another highlight on these guitars is the satin finish on the back of the neck. To me it’s the most comfortable feeling neck available. You don’t need to worry about your hands getting stuck if you are sweating a lot. These are beautiful necks and definitely my favourite style.
Beautiful satin finish on the neck
Gig Ready
The Mexican line of Fender guitars are great. I gigged for 4 years with a Standard Telecaster and never had an issue. There are solid guitars for a fraction of the American model. Check out my video below for a full sound demo and deep dive inside the guitar. I go over all the specs in more detail and open up the guitar to show close ups of the internal hardware.
So to sum up, I highly recommend the Player Series Stratocaster.
